English version

We awoke to a fine day with blue skies but no wind to speak of. We had a
good breakfast of egg and bacon before we got going on the final preparations of
filling the water tanks, putting the wheel on, cleaning and organizing buying
just a few more litres of water etc. After a while boats started to move out and
we followed suit after saying our goodbyes to our parents. We spent some time
before the start showing the crew how the sails roll in and out, the autopilot
etc. There were quite a few boats milling around in little wind, but eventually
the start time came and we got over the line not too long after the gun and
began on our epic journey. After an hour we decided to show how the spinaker
works to the crew and made all the preparations. The spinnaker went up and
we had a fun sail for half an hour. Then another boat came up outside us in a
situation where I had to give way to him. He deliberately forced us to sail
higher to the wind, causing the spinnaker to flog badly. Suddenly there was a
ripping sound and the spinnaker split along the entire length of both sides -
catastrophe! We managed to manhandle the remains down onto deck, but the sides
were caught round the upper starboard spreader. The only solution was to send
someone up the mast to free it. Louise was volunteered by me to do the job -
which she did extremely well and was soon safely and somewhat relieved back on
deck. See today's picture. The spinnaker is so badly damaged that I don't see it
as realistic to repair it at sea, so we are now looking at 2-3 days more on the
journey time. We will get it to a sail maker in St. Lucia. Otherwise all is fine
on board, the sun is shining and all seem happy enough despite our
disapointment.

From now on we will send the blog just after 12 UTC (same as UK time) when
we also have to report our position to ARC-headquatrers. There will not be much
in the way of photos either as the satellite phone just doesn't have the
capacity.